Thursday, July 24, 2008

Biofilms

Dr. McDonald presents evidence that Lyme bacteria create biofilms. This is a process by which colonies of bacteria organize in the intracellular matrix and are protected by a complex biological matrix. This makes bacteria very difficult to eradicate and resistant to antibiotic therapy. Biofilms are well described with other bacteria such as dental bacteria, pseudomonas and E. coli. These biofilms were seen in brain tissue. This may be why neuroborreliosis is so hard to cure and why it causes dementia. The evidence for chronic persistent Lyme keeps growing. Let me again summarize it: Animal models show that it persists after intensive antibiotic therapy. The animals have been sacrificed. Lyme organisms change their surface proteins to avoid the immune system. Borrelia acquires surface proteins from normal endothelial cell to disguise itself and avoid the immune system. It attaches to intracellular proteins out of reach of the immune system. It drills through tissues and stays out of body fluids to escapte the immune system. It grows very slowly making antibiotics relatively ineffective. It morphs into L-forms and becomes as intracellular. It criples the Th1 helper T cell response which would kill it by dysregulating vitamin D. It lowers the natural killer T cell response by an unknown mechanism. A controlled clinical study at a major academic medical center now shows that neurological Lyme gets better with IV Rocephin but symptoms rapidy recurs when antibiotics are stopped. The improvement returns when the antibiotics are started again. It forms spherical cystic/spore forms which are not killed by immune responses and are resistant to most antibiotics. We now have evidence that it forms biofilms. The IDSA still says there is no evidence that Lyme can persist after a short course of antibiotics. Medical boards are punishing doctors who do not follow discredited IDSA guidelines.This disease is disabling and killing people while a few pretigious doctors, whose best days are behind them refuse to consider the evidence.

3 comments:

But wait, earlier in your blog you said that 90% of your patients get better. Are you saying that if you are experiencing neurological symptoms, than you are past the point of effectively treating the disease? Or apst the point of point it into remission?

Patients get better. They may have some residual cognitive deficits. I think this information shows that treatment is difficult and prolonged at times. It also shows that patients with cognitive deficits need intravenous therapy which can pass the blood brain barrier. Occasionally, Minocin works better than Doxy because it is report to get into the brain.